1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a robot cleaning system, and more particularly, to a robot cleaning system capable of remotely controlling a cleaning robot by using a mobile communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
When someone cleans a floor using a vacuum cleaner, a great amount of work is required, since the person has to move the vacuum cleaner by him/herself.
Accordingly, a cleaning robot capable of cleaning by moving freely as long as a command for cleaning is ordered has been developed. In addition, a mobile robot having more functions for preventing a disaster such as a theft has been continuously studied.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional cleaning robot.
Referring to FIG. 1, the cleaning robot has a driving unit 40 for moving a robot body, an obstacle detection unit 30 for detecting an obstacle on a path along which the cleaning robot moves, a self-position recognition unit 20 for recognizing the current position of the cleaning robot, a vacuum cleaning unit 50 for cleaning a floor, a power supply unit 70 for storing and charging power needed for each of the units, and a controller 60 for controlling each of the units. Moreover, the cleaning robot has a remote control receiving unit 10 for remotely controlling the start/stop of an operation of the cleaning robot. The self-position recognition unit 20 and the obstacle detection unit 30 respectively have image process boards 22, 32 and cameras 21, 31 for recognizing the self-position and detecting the obstacle.
The cleaning robot having the above construction initializes at the controller 60 when the cleaning operation is ordered through the remote control receiving unit 10, and photographs the self-position by operating the camera 21 of the self-position recognition unit 20. Then, the cleaning robot transmits a photographed image data to the image process board 22 and allows the image data to be processed. The controller 60 analyses the current position of the cleaning robot by analyzing the image data transmitted from the image process board 22. After that, the controller 60 moves the robot body by transmitting a control signal to motor driving units 41a, 41b of motors 42a, 42b at right and left wheels 43b, 43a, respectively.
At this time, the controller 60 controls the driving unit 40 to avoid any obstacles by operating the camera 31 of the obstacle detection unit 30 and receiving the image data encoded in the image process board 32. When the cleaning robot moves to a desirable place to be cleaned, the controller 60 outputs the control signal to the vacuum cleaning unit 50 and to the driving unit 40 to rotate and move the robot body so as to perform cleaning. The cleaning robot then performs the cleaning operation along a predetermined path.
The cleaning robot operated as describe above can avoid obstacles placed in front of the cleaning robot by recognizing the obstacles in a predetermined interval during its moving steps in the process of cleaning. Also, the cleaning robot can move to desired positions precisely by performing the self-position recognition operation at predetermined intervals.
Moreover, the cleaning robot uses a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) for recognizing its self-position and for detecting obstacles in the driving path. Yet, the size of the photographed image data is very large, thus the cleaning robot usually requires an image data processor for processing the image data separately from the controller 60.
However, for the conventional cleaning robot, difficulty arises in the manufacture of a compact cleaning robot since each of the image process boards 22, 23 having the image data processor are installed inside of the cleaning robot body.
In addition, a user must command the cleaning robot to clean within the area of the place being cleaned, since the conventional cleaning robot can be controlled only in a short distance. If the user wants to command the cleaning robot outside of the place, then there is no way to command the cleaning robot.
An object of the present invention is to provide a robot cleaning system that remotely controls a cleaning operation at long distances through a mobile communication terminal and controls a cleaning operation from off-site by processing the image data photographed in the cleaning robot through a mobile communication network.
The above object is accomplished by providing a robot cleaning system comprising: a cleaning robot for cleaning by moving freely in a cleaning place or area by control data transmitted in the mobile communication signal; a mobile communication relaying apparatus for receiving the mobile communication signal transmitted from the cleaning robot and another mobile communication signal to control the cleaning robot, and relaying the mobile communication signals to a corresponding remote apparatus; and a mobile communication terminal for transmitting command signals, for performing operations, to the cleaning robot through the mobile communication relaying apparatus.
The cleaning robot comprises: a driving unit for moving a robot body; a self-position recognition unit having a camera and a sensor for recognizing a current position of the robot body; an obstacle detection unit having a camera and a sensor for detecting obstacles adjacent the robot body; a vacuum cleaning unit for collecting dust on a floor; a mobile communication module for transmitting the mobile communication signal with the mobile communication relaying apparatus; and a controller for controlling each of the units to move and clean the cleaning area corresponding to the control data transmitted from the mobile communication module.
The controller transmits the operation completion data to the mobile communication terminal when an operation is completed in accordance with the transmitted control data.
The controller transmits an image photographed through the camera of the self-position recognition unit and the camera of the obstacle detection unit to the mobile communication relaying apparatus.
The robot cleaning system further comprises an image process server for analyzing the image data transmitted through the mobile communication relaying apparatus, and for transmitting the control data according to the analyzed result to the cleaning robot through the mobile communication relaying apparatus.
The image process server comprises: an interface for interfacing a data with the mobile communication relaying apparatus; an image process unit for processing the image data transmitted through the interface; and a controller for analyzing the image data processed at the image process unit, for creating the control data according to the analyzed result, and for outputting the control data to the interface.
Here, the interface of the image process server can transmit the image data by Internet from the mobile communication relaying apparatus through a mobile communication relay base, or directly receive an RF signal from the mobile communication relaying apparatus.